


The Families We Chose

by Practically_Shakespeare



Series: Old Trouble - Prequels To the TS Actor AU [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Adoption, Anxiety, Awkward Conversations, Dread, Gen, reconnecting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-04
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:34:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,308
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22554103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Practically_Shakespeare/pseuds/Practically_Shakespeare
Summary: One year ago, Thomas discovered something new about himself, and now he's finally ready to act on that information.Virgil gave up along time ago, so he doesn't expect to hear what he was searching for call his name.Many questions are asked, and they will be answered, with time.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Thomas Sanders
Series: Old Trouble - Prequels To the TS Actor AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602550
Comments: 4
Kudos: 34





	The Families We Chose

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys! So, I love writing Creativitwins angst, but I needed a break from it. So, have the first entry in this AU that focuses on some of our other characters! I'll be alternating between working on this and some other works in this AU.

It had been a year. One year since Thomas’s dad had died, officially making Thomas an orphan as his mother had died when Thomas was a child. He was alone.

Or so Thomas had thought.

Then his father’s executor brought him a letter that revealed that Thomas had been adopted, and his parents had never told him. 

Thomas had spiraled for a little bit after that. He knew there was nothing wrong with being adopted, but Thomas felt like that was easier to say about other people who knew from the beginning that they were adopted. Finding out like this, after both of his parents were dead? That made him feel like it was something to be ashamed of. Like his adoption was some deep, dark secret. 

It had taken a lot of therapy and a lot of conversations with his close friends for Thomas to stop resenting his parents. Both the ones who had raised him, and the biological ones that Thomas had never known. The ones who had given him up.

And even more work to get Thomas to this point. The point where 8 weeks ago, he’d sent in a DNA test to Ancestry. The point where he now sat on the floor with his friends Patton and Joan, in the former’s Atlanta apartment, staring at the email he’d gotten. The email that he couldn’t bring himself to open. 

“You know, it could be nothing.” Joan said, in an attempt to break the silence. When Patton and Thomas looked at them, they added, “Didn’t you say before, Thomas, when you were researching, that it’s pretty common to get a third or fourth cousin, and have to work your way from there?”

“Yeah.” Thomas said, finally. “It’s uncommon to get a direct match right out of the gate. If you do, you’re really lucky.” And Thomas knew that. Knew that this likely wouldn’t be an instant solution. This would just be the start of a rocky road, and a lot of long searching. But, well, he didn’t know. Part of him _was_ hoping for an easy fix, an instant find, but the other part? That was the part of him that was keeping him from opening this email. The part of him that was suddenly scared of actually meeting his bio-family. 

What if he didn’t like them? What if _they_ didn’t like _him_? They’d given him up for a reason, after all. Thomas didn’t even know if there was anything worth finding.

Patton and Joan saw Thomas’s hesitation, and exchanged a glance.

“How about this?” Patton said, doing his best to smile at Thomas reassuringly. “Joan or I could open it for you, if that’s easier, and tell you the results?”

Thomas nodded, and handed the laptop over to Patton. Thomas couldn’t bring himself to speak. The anticipation had his stomach tied in more knots than a tangled pair of headphones.

Patton opened the email, and followed the link inside it. Joan squeezed Thomas’s hand in theirs. All Thomas could do was focus on Patton’s face.

Suddenly, Patton’s eyes widened and his jaw dropped.

“What, what is it?” Thomas questioned anxiously. Patton merely turned around the laptop.

At the top of the page was a name.

_Virgil Bailey_

_Member Since 2012, Last Logged in September 16, 2013_

But what Thomas found more interesting, and what had likely caused Patton’s surprise, were the sentences below all of that.

_Possible range: Full - Half Siblings_

_Confidence: Extremely High_

Thomas stared.

“I-I have a brother.” Thomas said, feeling breathless and a little lightheaded. 

“Click on the profile, Patton.” Joan urged. “Let’s see what this guy looks like!”  
  


“Only if Thomas wants to.” Patton reminded Joan.

“Yeah. I think I do.” Thomas confirmed.

And Patton clicked on the profile. All three friends gasped.

The young man in the photo was dressed in a simple purple shirt and gray hoodie, looking squarely into the camera. And he looked so much like Thomas! Brown hair, matching eyes, the same nose. And it really began to sink in for Thomas. This was his _brother._

“Wait a minute.” Joan said suddenly. “I think I know him!”

Patton and Thomas both immediately turned to Joan.

“What do you mean, you know him?” Thomas questioned, a little confused.

Joan was scrolling through their phone, until they finally flipped it around to show Thomas an instagram page with the name _Virgil Bailey_ at the top.

“Found him!” They said triumphantly. “I almost didn’t recognize that picture of him, but I knew the name was familiar.”  
  


The post Joan had pulled up was a series of selfies. The first depicted the same young man as in the Ancestry profile picture, though Thomas instantly understood why Joan didn’t recognize it at first.

The Virgil in this picture had multiple piercings in each ear, plus an eyebrow piercing in his left eyebrow. His hair, instead of cleanly and simply cut like in the previous photo, was a bright purple, and styled to hang in front of his eyes. The eyes in question were framed with dramatic purple eyeshadow and eyeliner. However, compared to the rest of him, his clothes were fairly simple. Just a long-sleeved black shirt, and black jeans.

“That’s a pretty color.” Patton commented, but Thomas barely noticed as he swiped through the photos.

The first selfie seemed to show Virgil sitting down in a cafe. The second was similar, but there was someone in the background, making a funny face at the camera. Thomas took a double-take, and realized who it was.

“Joan? What—”  
  


“Shh.” Joan said waving a hand at Thomas. “Look at the rest first.”

The third picture showed Joan right behind Virgil, giving the young man bunny ears. The young man in question had clearly been just starting to realize Joan was there as the camera had taken the photo, judging by his wide eyes.

In the fourth, and last, picture, Virgil and Joan were sittiing next to each other, with Joan beaming widely into the camera, and Virgil looking happy, if a little surprised.

The caption read:

_Was on my lunch break at a cute local cafe, and look who I ran into! The famous Director Stokes, who also currently happens to kinda be my boss. I’m working tech for a movie they’re filming in the area! They’re even cooler in person, and took the time to learn my name and talk to me for a little bit. Doubt I’ll ever run into them again, or that they’ll remember my name, but now I’ve got a cool story for the future._

Thomas’s head snapped up. 

“Did he say he’s working tech on your movie right now?” Thomas said. Joan grinned wide.

“Yep.” They said, with the slightest hint of smugness. 

“The one I’m currently starring in?” Thomas said. “ _Watch it Burn and Rust_?”

“Yep!” Joan said cheerfully. “I’d seen him around on set, and I photobombed his selfie because I was intrigued by how much he looked like you.” Joan did sober up a bit, expression turning serious. “I’d kinda thought it’d be kinda funny to laugh about later, but now we know why he looks like you.”

“Wow!” Patton said, eyes wide. “What are the odds of this sort of thing happening?”

“Small, probably.” Thomas said, quietly. He frowned, and turned to his friends. “What now?”

“Well,” Patton began, “I’d love to help you two plan, but I have to go back to San Francisco tomorrow. I told Dee I’d help him with the wedding plans.” Patton pouted. “It’s too bad, I’d love to meet your brother!”

“I think I probably won’t want to overwhelm him, but thanks for the offer.” Thomas said. “Besides, I’m guessing your brother will need your help to temper out more of Remus’s...extreme ideas.”

“You don’t even know half of it.” Patton sighed, tired. “Roman just texted me yesterday, begging me to help me convince Remus that it was a bad idea for him to pop out of the wedding cake to make an entrance into the reception. And that’s just the beginning of it. I haven’t even started on the ideas he’s had for Dillon’s bachelor party. To be honest, I think he might be trolling us a little.”

“Sounds like Remus!” Joan laughed. “You’ll have to say hi to that chaotic trash man for me!”

“I will.” Patton promised. “Now, Thomas, back to Virgil. It looks like he hasn’t been on Ancestry in a while, so if you send him a message on there he probably won’t get it. But you know now that he’ll be on the movie set with you. So what’s your plan?”

Thomas frowned, lost in thought.

“Well……”

*************************************************

_The next day…._

Virgil hummed to himself as he double-checked the lights on set, making sure they were secure. He liked moments like this, where it was just him, on top of a scissor lift adjusting lights. He was far away from the hustle and bustle on the ground below, and it was just him and the lights. Virgil turned to the controls and slowly lowered himself to the ground. His supervisor, Chris, greeted him as he got down. 

“The lights all secure up there, Virge?” 

“Yep, nice and tight, just like they should be.” Virgil replied, promptly. “They’ll be in place and ready for filming tomorrow.”

“Great, thank you Virge.” Chris said. “See you tomorrow?”

“Yep!” Virgil said. “Bright and early as usual, before anything with any amount of sanity is up.”

“You’ve got that right!” Chris said with a laugh. “See ya!”

Virgil smiled and waved, and walked away. He was looking forward to going home and collapsing. Mom would probably have food waiting for him, like she usually did when he had to work these long days. And he could continue to ignore the email notification he had gotten from Ancestry. They claimed that a new genetic match had been found. Virgil could care less.

He didn’t want to get his hopes up anymore.

He was about to exit the building, when he heard a voice behind him.

“Virgil! Virgil Bailey!”

Virgil turned, though groaning inwardly. Usually if someone was shouting his name like _that_ it meant that something had gone wrong and he was needed to fix it. And he wouldn’t get home for another couple of hours. 

“What is it this time, Chris—” Virgil froze mid sentence. 

That was _definitely_ not Chris. 

Not unless Chris had somehow figured out how to shapeshift himself into _Thomas Freaking Sanders,_ Virgil’s idol and personal hero.

“M-Mr. Sanders.” Virgil stuttered, mind racing. Why on earth would Thomas Sanders know his name? How did Thomas Sanders even know that he existed. “Can I help you?”

“I-” Thomas began, but stopped mid sentence. For the first time, Virgil actually looked at him and realized something that shocked him. Thomas Sanders was _nervous._ About talking to him, Virgil Bailey, a complete unknown. Suddenly, Thomas spoke again.

“I-I was wondering if I could talk to you.”

“About?” Virgil questioned, genuinely curious, although the part of him that could never really trust anyone was on guard. Virgil had to protect himself first. He already knew the consequences of being too trusting all too well.

“W-well,” Thomas said, looking even more nervous, “I was hoping we could talk in private? Maybe on the way to dinner?”

“What?” Virgil said, stunned. “Why would you want to go to dinner with me? You don’t even know me?”

“Well, I—” Thomas sighed. “This isn’t going quite like I planned but—”  
  
“But?” Virgil said.

“I’m your brother.”

*************************************************

The silence in the back of Thomas’s limo was uncomfortable. Neither man quite knew how to break the silence that stretched between them like a rubber band. Tenuous and feeling like it could snap at any moment. 

Virgil kept turning things over in his head. He’d finally looked at that Ancestry email, and it had confirmed what Thomas had said. 

He still couldn’t quite believe it.

Finally, Thomas broke the silence.

“Look, I—” Thomas took a deep breath, the kind Virgil knew well. It was the kind of breath you only take when your brain is swirling with chaos, and you’re desperately trying to contain it. 

“I don’t want you to feel like you owe me anything.” Thomas said. “I know that this has to seem absolutely crazy. You probably didn’t even know I existed until I came to talk to you.” Thomas took another desperate breath, clearly still struggling to stay calm. “If you don’t want to have a relationship with me, I completely understa—”

“No!” Virgil said, feeling a sudden sense of urgency swell up within him. Thomas stopped talking, clearly taken aback by Virgil’s sudden interjection. Virgil realized he should probably clarify his statement.

“I mean,” Virgil said, “You’re wrong. I did know I had a brother. That’s why I got that Ancestry account, why I took the DNA test. And it wasn’t the only one I took either. I was hoping that I could find him, or you, I guess.”

“You were looking for me?” Thomas said softly. Virgil suddenly felt embarassed at his own outburst and looked at his feet.

“Yeah, for years. I mean, I didn’t know _who_ you were, but I knew that you were out there somewhere. But I got frustrated, and—” Virgil shrugged helplessly. “I gave up. Couldn’t take constantly getting my hopes up only to have them dashed.”

Silence again.

“What I mean is,” Virgil said, “I’d like to try for a relationship with you, if I haven’t screwed things up already.”

“You haven’t.” Thomas said. “And I’d like to try too.”

Virgil shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

“I’m guessing you have some questions?” Virgil said.

“Yeah, I do,” said Thomas, “but we’ve been sitting here a while, and I did promise you dinner?”  
  
Thomas smiled hopefully at Virgil.

“Sure.” Virgil said, and smiled back.


End file.
